Carbon nanotubes are hexagonal networks of carbon atoms forming seamless tubes with each end capped with half of a fullerene molecule. They were first reported in 1991 by Sumio Iijima who produced multi-layer concentric tubes or multi-walled carbon nanotubes by evaporating carbon in an arc discharge. They reported carbon nanotubes having up to seven walls. In 1993, Iijima's group and an IBM team headed by Donald Bethune independently discovered that a single-wall nanotube could be made by vaporizing carbon together with a transition metal such as iron or cobalt in an arc generator (see Iijima et al. Nature 363:603 (1993); Bethune et al., Nature 363: 605 (1993) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,054). The original syntheses produced low yields of non-uniform nanotubes mixed with large amounts of soot and metal particles.
Presently, there are three main approaches for the synthesis of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. These include the electric arc discharge of graphite rod (Journet et al. Nature 388: 756 (1997)), the laser ablation of carbon (Thess et al. Science 273: 483 (1996)), and the chemical vapor deposition of hydrocarbons (Ivanov et al. Chem. Phys. Lett 223: 329 (1994); Li et al. Science 274: 1701 (1996)). Multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be produced on a commercial scale by catalytic hydrocarbon cracking while single-walled carbon nanotubes are still produced on a gram scale.
Generally, single-walled carbon nanotubes are preferred over multi-walled carbon nanotubes because they have unique mechanical and electronic properties. Defects are less likely to occur in single-walled carbon nanotubes because multi-walled carbon nanotubes can survive occasional defects by forming bridges between unsaturated carbon valances, while single-walled carbon nanotubes have no neighboring walls to compensate for defects. Defect-free single-walled nanotubes are expected to have remarkable mechanical, electronic and magnetic properties that could be tunable by varying the diameter, number of concentric shells, and chirality of the tube.
Many researchers consider chemical vapor deposition as the only viable approach to large scale production and for controllable synthesis of carbon single walled nanotubes (Dai et al. (Chem. Phys. Lett 260: 471 (1996), Hafner et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 296: 195 (1998), Su. M., et al. Chem Phys. Lett., 322: 321 (2000)). Typically, the growth of carbon SWNTs by CVD method is conducting at the temperatures 550-1200° C. by decomposition of hydrocarbon gases (methane, ethylene, alcohol, and the like) on metal nanoparticles (Fe, Ni, Co, . . . ) supported by oxide powders. The diameters of the single-walled carbon nanotubes vary from 0.7 nm to 3 nm. The synthesized single-walled carbon nanotubes are roughly aligned in bundles and woven together similarly to those obtained from laser vaporization or electric arc method. The use of metal catalysts comprising iron and at least one element chosen from Group V (V, Nb and Ta), VI (Cr, Mo and W), VII (Mn, Tc and Re) or the lanthanides has also been proposed (U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,916).
Presently, there are two types of chemical vapor deposition for the syntheses of single-walled carbon nanotubes that are distinguishable depending on the form of supplied catalyst. In one, the catalyst is embedded in porous material or supported on a substrate, placed at a fixed position of a furnace, and heated in a flow of hydrocarbon precursor gas. Cassell et al. (1999) J. Phys. Chem. B 103: 6484-6492 studied the effect of different catalysts and supports on the synthesis of bulk quantities of single-walled carbon nanotubes using methane as the carbon source in chemical vapor deposition. They systematically studied Fe(NO3)3 supported on Al2O3, Fe(SO4)3 supported on Al2O3, Fe/Ru supported on Al2O3, Fe/Mo supported on Al2O3, and Fe/Mo supported on Al2O3—SiO2 hybrid support. The bimetallic catalyst supported on the hybrid support material provided the highest yield of the nanotubes. Su et al. (2000) Chem. Phys. Lett. 322: 321-326 reported the use of a bimetal catalyst supported on an aluminum oxide aerogel to produce single-walled carbon nanotubes. They reported preparation of the nanotubes is greater than 200% the weight of the catalyst used. In comparison, similar catalyst supported on Al2O3 powder yields approximately 40% the weight of the starting catalyst. Thus, the use of the aerogel support improved the amount of nanotubes produced per unit weight of the catalyst by a factor of 5.
In the second type of carbon vapor deposition, the catalyst and the hydrocarbon precursor gas are fed into a furnace using the gas phase, followed by the catalytic reaction in a gas phase. The catalyst is usually in the form of a metalorganic. Nikolaev et al. (1999) Chem. Phys. Lett. 313: 91 disclose a high-pressure CO reaction (HiPCO) method in which carbon monoxide (CO) gas reacts with the metalorganic iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5) to form single-walled carbon nanotubes. It is claimed that 400 g of nanotubes can be synthesized per day. Chen et al. (1998) Appl. Phys. Lett. 72: 3282 employ benzene and the metalorganic ferrocene (Fe(C5H5)2) delivered using a hydrogen gas to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes. The disadvantage of this approach is that it is difficult to control particles sizes of the metal catalyst. The decomposition of the organometallic provides disordered carbon (not desired) the metal catalyst having variable particle size that results in nanotubes having a wide distribution of diameters and low yields.
In another method, the catalyst is introduced as a liquid pulse into the reactor. Ci et al. (2000) Carbon 38: 1933-1937 dissolve ferrocene in 100 mL of benzene along with a small amount of thiophene. The solution is injected into a vertical reactor in a hydrogen atmosphere. The technique requires that the temperature of bottom wall of the reactor be kept at between 205-230° C. to obtain straight carbon nanotubes. In the method of Ago et al. (2001) J. Phys. Chem. 105: 10453-10456, colloidal solution of cobalt:molybdenum (1:1) nanoparticles is prepared and injected into a vertically arranged furnace, along with 1% thiophene and toluene as the carbon source. Bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes are synthesized. One of the disadvantages of this approach is the very low yield of the nanotubes produced.
It is well known that the diameter of the SWNTs produced is proportional to the size of the catalyst particle. In order to synthesize nanotubes of small diameter, it is necessary to have catalyst particles of very small particle size (less than about 1 nm). Catalysts of small particle size are difficult to synthesize, and even with small catalyst particle sizes, a distribution of catalyst sizes is obtained which results in the formation of nanotubes with a range of diameters. Furthermore, the conversion of the carbon source to the carbon nanotubes is low, and the electron microscopy studies indicate the carbon nanotubes produced have lengths of just tens of micrometers, and, therefore, are not very long. For some applications, such as conducting cable, microactuators, and the like, the electrical and mechanical properties of carbon SWNTs can be exploited if long continuous tubes could be synthesized. The synthesis of carbon SWNTs having several centimeters in length has been reported by Zhu et al. (2002) Science 296: 884-886. The method of Zhu et al. uses the vertical floating method where the catalyst particles are formed in situ during synthesis. The in situ formation of the catalyst particles affects the particle size distribution which ultimately limits the yield of the SWNTs. Thus, there is a need for methods and processes for the synthesis of carbon single walled nanotubes having long lengths.